We Are Scientists are an American indie rock band featuring Keith Murray (guitar and lead vocals), Chris Cain (bass guitar and backing vocals), Max Hart (keys and guitar) and previously Michael Tapper (drums and backing vocals). They formed in 2000 in New York, NY.

Their name was inspired by an awkward conversation with a U-Haul employee who was inspecting a van that the band had rented. The U-haul employee, attempting to make polite conversation, asked the three bespectacled band members if they were brothers. They said no. He asked if they were scientists. They told him that they were musicians, not scientists. To this day, they regret telling the truth. They are not named after the Cap’n Jazz song which bears the name.

The band formed while its members attended the Claremont Colleges. Murray and Cain attended Pomona College; Michael Tapper attended Harvey Mudd College.

The band have released three self-made EPs (Bitching!, Safety, Fun, and Learning (In That Order) and In Action) and have released their debut LP, With Love and Squalor on Virgin Records. The first three singles are “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt”, “The Great Escape” and “It’s a Hit”. The album takes its name from the J.D. Salinger short story “For Esme - With Love and Squalor”. They have since released another LP Crap Attack, which is a collection of B-Sides, covers and other rarities.
The band play the Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds Festivals in August.

In one of their most important television appearances, the band performed on the December 19, 2005 episode of the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS.

On the 1st November 2007, NME reported that Michael Tapper has left We Are Scientists under amicable circumstances, and will not join the band for their forthcoming UK University tour.

On September 18, 2007, the band announced on their website that Max Hart, a keyboardist and guitarist who has played live with them before, has joined the band temporarily. As they put it: “There’s no easy answer as to how long Max will stick around. Maybe we’ll grow to hate his sanctimonious ways, which for now tickle us so. Maybe he’ll grow to hate our open-minded, funny, refreshing, handsome ways, thus achieving what psychologists and bookies long ago labeled impossible.”